Democratic strategist scolds Fani Willis over media blitz: 'She's got to bring it down'
Democratic strategist Karen Finney warned Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to rein herself in and stop doing media interviews ahead of the court hearing Thursday in the Georgia election interference case against former President Trump.
"Fani Willis, I think, has already made herself a character in this saga," the former Clinton campaign adviser warned during an appearance on CNN Thursday morning.
Willis has been criticized for speaking publicly to the media about the case and defending her past romantic relationship with former prosecutor Nathan Wade.
"She’s got to bring it down and stay focused on doing the job of prosecuting this case," Finney scolded on CNN. "I wish she would stop doing interviews and really focus on – just prosecute the case and be very serious in the courtroom. No flair, nothing fancy. Just the facts, ma'am."
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Willis was forced to remove special prosecutor Nathan Wade from the election interference case after it was revealed she had a past romantic relationship with him. Georgia Judge Scott McAfee ordered Willis to recuse herself from the case or remove Wade.
After Wade resigned from the case, Willis publicly defended her reputation and relationship.
"I don’t feel like my reputation needs to be reclaimed," Willis told CNN last week after a reporter asked her about it. "I guess my greatest crime is I had a relationship with a man, that’s not something I find embarrassing in any way. And I know that I have not done anything that’s illegal."
Although the racketeering case was delayed by two months, Willis said her team hasn’t slowed down.
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"My team’s been continuing to work it… We were still doing the case in the way that it needed to be done," she said. "I don’t feel like we’ve been slowed down at all. I do think there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming."
Finney's warning to Willis follows Democratic strategist Donna Brazile admitting that Willis showed "bad judgment" in her relationship with Wade.
"I can’t sit in judgment of her as a human being, but I can say, in terms of her role as a public prosecutor, yeah, she showed bad judgment," Brazile told The New York Times last month.
"She is undergoing public scrutiny — she’s a public official," Brazile told the media outlet. "Comes with the territory."
Thursday will be the first hearing in the Georgia election case since McAfee ruled Willis could remain on the case.
He will hear arguments "concerning a filing by Trump's attorney arguing that the former president's charges criminalize his political speech and advocacy that the First Amendment protects, as well as two motions by former Georgia Republican Party chair David Shafer," Fox5 Atlanta reported.
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Fox News' Brie Stimson and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.